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TRENTON
- Attorney General Anne Milgram and Division
of Criminal Justice Acting Director Deborah
Gramiccioni announced that a Burlington
County woman has pleaded guilty to running
a criminal prescription drug ring and filing
fraudulent insurance claims.
According
to Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Greta Gooden
Brown, Joyce Sarte Fuller, 63, of Mount
Laurel, pleaded guilty late Thursday before
Superior Court Judge James J. Morley in
Burlington County to attempted theft by
deception, conspiracy to unlawfully sell
controlled dangerous substances, and possession
with intent to distribute controlled dangerous
substances, all in the second degree. The
charges were contained in two separate state
grand jury indictments returned on June
11, 2007. The state will recommend a sentence
of 10 years in state prison.
At
the guilty plea hearing, Fuller admitted
that between April 28, 2002 and Aug. 26,
2003, she falsely reported to the Mount
Laurel Police Department that she suffered
a burglary at her home. Fuller subsequently
submitted a fraudulent “Itemized Statement
of Loss” to USAA Insurance Company
detailing items that were falsely reported
as stolen, including artwork, porcelain
figurines and other items. The purported
value of the items totaled $137,250.
Fuller
also admitted that between Dec. 1, 2002
and March 17, 2004, she stole prescription
pads from physicians’ offices. She
admitted that she wrote false prescriptions
for drugs, including controlled narcotic
substances, and obtained the drugs from
various pharmacies in and around the Mount
Laurel area. Fuller admitted that she sold
more than an ounce of morphine.
Detective
Scott Caponi, Civil Investigator Bud Fifield,
and Deputy Attorneys General Lewis J. Korngut
and Ronald Epstein were assigned to the
investigation. Korngut represented the Office
of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor at the guilty
plea hearing. The Mount Laurel and Moorestown
Police Departments and USAA Insurance Company
assisted in the investigation.
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